The present invention relates to an apparatus for conditioning fluid used in conjunction with an internal combustion engine. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for filtering fuel for a diesel engine.
Fluids used in conjunction with an internal combustion engine, such as engine lubricating oil, transmission fluid, engine coolant, and engine fuel, often require continuous filtering so as to prevent contaminants in the fluid from depositing on and adversely affecting components of the engine and related systems. On internal combustion engines which are operated continuously or near-continuously for long periods of time, such as diesel engines used to generate electrical power and diesel engines in trucks, the large quantity of fluid passing through the filter, in combination with partially contaminated fluids such as lower quality diesel fuel, result in operational difficulties and/or unexpected engine shut-downs due to premature filter plugging.
Servicing of the filter in the continuous and near-continuous operational applications presents problems for the operators. Usually, the clogged filter requires human intervention. Further, the engine is typically shut down to change the filter. In many cases, changing the filter results in significant leakage of the fluid into the environment and a loss of the priming of the fluid-receiving system.
Systems such as diesel engine fuel systems often require a variety of components to condition the fuel prior to introduction in the pump and/or injectors. This conditioning may require heating by one or more types of fluid heaters, measurement of fuel pressure and fuel temperature, and water separation, as well as filtering. Often these different functions are handled by a variety of components placed throughout the installation area of the engine. As a result, fuel tubing is routed to numerous locations, individual attachment sites must be found for each component, and the total fluid conditioning system weight and expense is greater than the weight and expense of a unified system.
What is needed is an apparatus that overcomes these problems. The present invention does this in a novel and unobvious way.
One aspect of the present invention concerns an apparatus for an internal combustion engine cooled by a liquid coolant, comprising a reservoir of fluid, a body provided with the fluid, a first removable filter coupled to the body, and a second removable filter coupled to the body. There is a valve actuatable between a first position and a second position, the first position placing the first filter in fluid communication with the fluid and the second position placing the second filter in fluid communication with the fluid. The apparatus includes various means for heating the fluid in the body. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description of the preferred embodiment, the claims, and the drawings to follow.